A toolkit to guide engagement with children and young people on the

Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy

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TOOLKIT

Child YouthAND

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The toolkit has been designed and developed by the Mai World Child and Youth Voices team at the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) and the Voices of Children and Young People team at Oranga Tamariki. It provides you with guidance about how you can get children and young people involved in conversations about their wellbeing to influence the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. Make sure you feedback to us what you hear, so we can feedback to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Children.

PURPOSE OF THIS TOOLKIT

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although it may be small, it is precious

Ahakoa HE ITI, HE pounamu

This Toolkit has been designed to help you to support children and young people to have a say on the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy.

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Korero-

BACKGROUND

Child wellbeing is importantThe Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, in her role as the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, and the Minister for Children, Hon Tracey Martin, are leading the development of the Government’s first Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy.

The Strategy will set the direction for how to improve the wellbeing of children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Children and young people have valuable views to share. We want to enable them to have their say on what the Strategy should focus on.

For more information about the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy, you can go to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s website at:

dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/child-and-youth-wellbeing-strategy

Want to get involved? We want to hear from as many children and young people as possible.

This Toolkit will assist you to support children and young people to have a say about the Strategy, using the same approaches as the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and Oranga Tamariki.

We encourage you to use this toolkit and feedback what you hear!

Feedback from children and young people will need to be forwarded to us by 1 December 2018. We explain how to forward the information later in the Toolkit.

“Just talk to us, don’t see us as too hard.”

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PanuiINFORMATION

Children have a right to be heard

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12 states that children and young people have a right to have a say and be heard in decisions that affect them. For more information about children’s rights go to:

occ.org.nz/childrens-rights-and-advice/uncroc

T A L K

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This Toolkit is for practitioners who...

WHO IS THIS TOOLKIT FOR?

talk with children and young people as part of their everyday work

have been police vetted and are safe to talk with children and young people

have ethical processes that guide their engagement practice with children and young people

have support from their organisation to talk with children and young people about the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy

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2. Follow an ethical processIt is important that any engagement with children and young people is ethical and safe. This includes: obtaining informed consent, ensuring adults that will be talking with children and young people are experienced and have been police vetted, and protecting the identity of the children you talk with.

For more information about the ethical processes you need to consider, you can go to the OCC’s Listening to Kids website at:

occ.org.nz/listening2kids

T WO THINGS TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU TALK WITH

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE…

1. Believe they have something valuable to sayTo ensure your engagement is meaningful for children and young people, it is absolutely vital that you believe in and respect their mana. They are young, but their perspectives of the world are as important as adults, and they can teach us a lot about how to make things better for them.

5HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT

There are two ways you can assist children and young people to have a say on the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. You can:

b. Talk to children and young people face to face - kanohi ki te kanohiFace to face talks with children and young people will enable you to get a deeper understanding of their views. If you want to conduct face to face conversations with children and young people we encourage you to go for it!

The following pages provide some guidance on how to do this. To ensure we can include the views that you have gathered through your face to face engagements, you will need to follow the steps below and send the information to us by 1 December 2018.

a. Help children and young people to fill in our surveyThe easiest way you can involve children and young people in discussions about the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy is to support them to fill in our online survey.

The survey takes about 10 minutes to fill in. Some children and young people may require extra support to complete the survey and we encourage you to support them.

You can access the survey at:

surveymonkey.com/r/tellthepm

The survey closes on 1 December 2018

KIKanohi TE Kanohi

6 OUR FACE TO FACE TOOLKITSo you have decided that you want to talk with children and young people about what they think should be in the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy?There are 3 steps to follow:

1 Ask children and young people questions

2 Choose the approach you will use to talk to them

3. Action what you have heard. KIKanohiSTEP TWO

Ask children and young people these three questions…1. What does a good life mean for children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand?2. What can get in the way of children and young people having a good life?3. What helps children and young people to have a good life?There are no limits on the ways that these questions can be asked. We encourage you to adjust the questions to suit the children and young people you are talking with.

Tip In most discussions with children and young people, you will have additional questions that increase the chances of obtaining in depth responses. For example if a child says they are unhappy because they can’t play, you might ask.• Can you help me understand why you

can’t play?• Can you tell me more about why you

can’t play?

STEP ONE

Choose the approach you will use to talk to children and young people There are lots of different ways to talk with children and young people, and you will have your own fun ways of doing this.

If you want other ideas for activities you could use go to:

occ.org.nz/listening2kids/how-you-engage/examples-of-engagement/

Tip Good face to face engagement requires planning and preparation. It may also require some resources. Some costs include providing kai, hiring a venue, koha for participants, and costs to buy resources such as art equipment. You will need to factor these costs into your planning and preparation.For more information about preparing for face to face engagement check out:

occ.org.nz/listening2kids

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2. Make changes in your organisation based on what children and young people tell youDepending on the type of organisation, this could be a good opportunity to review what changes could be made to your own organisation to reflect the feedback from children and young people. More information about child centred policy planning can be found here:

occ.org.nz/publications/reports/ being-child-centred/ from children

STEP THREE

Action what you have heard from children and young people

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Good participation opportunities leverage the child or young person’s strengths, and provide ample opportunities for them to have their voice heard. You can do this by using a range of engagement methods that encourage young people to own and share their stories. They are the educators, we are the learners.

3. Share children’s and young people’s views with others in your networks or communityChildren and young people may have identified issues or needs that others in your networks or community could address. Share (always with proper consent) the barriers identified and any solutions that children identified would enable them to have good lives. Many solutions already exist and sharing the children’s views and voices may spark new collaboration and support for children and their families in your local community.

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Kanohi1. Three ways to share children’s and young people’s views with us

First you can input the information straight into survey monkey on the following link:

Surveymonkey.com/r/cywsresponse

Second you can fill in the recording sheet template we have provided in this Toolkit and email to:

voices@occ.org.nz

Third you can make a submission on the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy directly to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet:

dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/child-and-youth-wellbeing-strategy

8 KEEPING YOU INFORMED ABOUT THE FINDINGS

When the findings are ready to be released publicly we will send you a link to the report so you can share the findings with the children and young people you have talked with. Any questions?

If you have any questions about the project and want to speak to someone, you can email us at:

voices@occ.org.nz

Additional resourcesWe have provided you with an information sheet and consent form to support you to obtain consent from children and their parents or guardians. We have also included the recording sheet that we would like you to fill in after your session with children and young people.

Kia Ora

Thank you for helping children and young people’s voices to be heard

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The following pages are templates you can use to:

1. obtain consent from children and young people and their parents and

2. record children’s and young peoples information to send back to us

RESOURCES

Child YouthAND

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Why do we want to talk with you?The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is making a plan to help improve the lives of all children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand and she wants to hear from you!

Your views on what makes a good life

INFORMATION SHEE T FOR CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

What we want to ask you? When we meet with you we will ask you these questions:

• What does a good life mean to you?

• What gets in the way of you having a good life?

• What supports you to have a good life?

Some important stuff for you to know: • You taking part is totally your choice. You don’t

have to talk to us if you don’t want to.

• This is not a test. We want to know what your thoughts and opinions are. There are no right or wrong answers.

• Everyone has an important view to share.

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Hearing from children and young people about wellbeing

What is the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy about? The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is leading the development of the Government’s first Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. The Strategy will set out how the government will improve the wellbeing of all children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand.

INFORMATION SHEE T FOR PARENTS AND GUARDIANS

What questions will we ask children and young people? We want to ask what children and young people think they and other children need to have a good life, what helps children to have a good life, and what gets in the way.

What will we do with the information?When we have completed all of our discussions with children and young people, we will send the information to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner who are working with the Voices of Children and Young People team at Oranga Tamariki. They will analyse the information and present a report to the Prime Minister at the end of the year. The report will be made public early next year.

We will ensure that children and young people are not identifiable in any of the information we send to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and the Oranga Tamariki Voices team.

What we need from you?We need you to sign the consent form if your child is under 16 years old.

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1. I understand what this discussion is about.

2. I understand what I say will be kept anonymous. The things I say may be shared, but not my name, so no one will know it was me who said them.

3. I understand that any art I make in the workshop might be shared, but no one will know that I made the art.

4. I understand that if the person running the workshop is concerned about my safety or the safety of others, they will need to tell someone. They will tell me about this first.

5. If I feel upset and want to talk to someone about it, I can tell the people running the workshop and they will find the right person to help.

6. Taking part in this workshop is totally up to me. I understand I don’t have to answer every question and can stop any time without having to give a reason.

For children and young people under 16 years old

I have read this form and agree to take part Yes / No

Name:

Age:

Ethnicity:

Signature:

Date:

CONSENT FORM FOR CHILDREN

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1. I understand what this discussion is about.

2. I understand what my child says will be kept anonymous. The things he/she says may be shared, but not their name, so no one will know it was them who said them.

3. I understand that any art my child makes in the workshop might be shared, but no one will know they made the art.

4. I understand that if the person running the workshop is concerned about the safety of my child, they will need to tell someone.

5. If my child feels upset and wants to talk to someone about it, the people running the workshop will find the right person to help.

6. I understand that my child does not have to answer every question and can stop any time without having to give a reason.

For parents and guardians

I agree to (name of young person) taking part

Name of parent/guardian:

Signature:

Date:

CONSENT FORM FOR PARENTS/GUARDIANS

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For recording the perspectives of children and young people.

Date:

Location:

Organisation:

Contact person:

Contact phone number:

Contact email:

Demographics

What was the age of the children and young people? Please state the number of children/ young people in each age range

What is the ethnicity of the children and young people?Please state the number of children/ young people that identified with each ethnicity

What is the gender makeup of the participants?Please state the number of children/ young people that identified with each gender

RECORDING SHEE T

1-5 yrs 6-10 yrs 11-15 yrs 16-19 yrs 20-24 yrs

Māori Samoan Cook Island Maori Tongan Niuean

Tokelauan Fijian Kiribati Other Pacific European including NZ European

Asian, Middle Eastern, African, or Latin American Other

Gender Diverse Male Female I don’t know

Other

Any additional information you want to share about your children and young people?

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What did children and young people tell you about........?Write what children and young people tell you here. You can summarise what you heard and include quotes.

What does a good life mean for children and young people in Aotearoa?

What can get in the way of children and young people having a good life?

What helps children and young people to have a good life?

RECORDING SHEE T